Naples Wine & Pizza

Naples invented pizza - and pairs it with Campanian wines. The centro storico's wine bars offer local varieties with pizza or other Neapolitan dishes. The city's Greek name (Neapolis - New City) reminds us of its colonial origins. Wine culture here fuses Greek, Roman, and distinctly Neapolitan elements.

What to do there

3 things to do

1. 1 Walk the Greek City Beneath Modern Naples History · Free

   Naples was Neapolis - New City. The old city was Parthenope. You're walking on 2,700 years of continuous urban history.

   Naples was founded as Parthenope around 680 BC, then refounded as Neapolis ('New City') around 470 BC by Greek colonists. The modern street grid still follows the original Greek orthogonal plan - Spaccanapoli (Via San Biagio dei Librai/Via Benedetto Croce) is the central Greek cardo, the main east-west axis. Walk it end to end (1.5 km) and notice how perfectly straight it runs, how every side street intersects at right angles. You're walking on a 2,500-year-old Greek city plan that survived Roman, Byzantine, Norman, Spanish, Bourbon, and Italian municipal planning.

   Backup: San Lorenzo Maggiore (Piazza San Gaetano) has underground excavations of the ancient Greek market beneath the medieval church.

   Log Memory
2. 2 Find the First Natural Wine Bar in Southern Italy Wine · Price: low

   Someone decided Naples needed a bar dedicated entirely to natural wine. They opened it. This is where it started.

   Vineria Bandita was the first enoteca dedicated to natural wines in all of southern Italy, founded to promote natural wine in a city that had drunk Aglianico since the Greeks. Naples now has 21+ natural wine venues, but this was first. Search current address via Gambero Rosso guide as wine bars occasionally relocate. Order Falanghina and ask staff: 'Which producer makes you most excited right now?' Natural wine shops at this level have strong opinions - the recommendation will be something no standard wine list could offer.

   Backup: Jus Enoteca Naturale (Chiaia district) is the direct alternative with enthusiastic staff and glasses starting at €2-3.

   Log Memory
3. 3 Taste Mount Vesuvius in a Glass Tonight Wine · Price: low · Optional

   The same volcano that destroyed Pompeii still grows wine. You can drink it any evening in Naples.

   Mount Vesuvius DOC wines grown on volcanic ash soils are among the most minerally intense in Italy. Lacryma Christi ('Tears of Christ') from Piedirosso and Coda di Volpe grapes is wine grown on the mountain that destroyed the greatest wine city in Roman history - Dionysus territory in the most literal sense. At Don Mimì dal 1939 (Via Martiri d'Otranto 47) or Enoteca Belledonne, ask for Vesuvio DOC or Lacryma Christi. If it shows the volcano silhouette on the label, it's from the slopes. Smell it first - volcanic wines often carry distinct mineral or smoky quality immediately different from other Campanian wines.

   Backup: Any specialist Naples enoteca will have at least one Lacryma Christi available.

   Log Memory

Insider tips

• Pizza with Falanghina is perfect

• The centro storico is the place

• Book pizzerias; wine bars more casual

• Late night eating is normal